Eric took to Twitter to criticize ABC News reporter Jon Karl, who asked during Monday's White House press briefing why the president felt the need to say “something that is offensive to many people while honoring the Navajo code talkers, these genuine American heroes?”

Advertisement

Eric tweeted: "The irony of an ABC reporter (whose parent company Disney has profited nearly half a billion dollars on the movie “Pocahontas”) inferring that the name is “offensive” is truly staggering to me."

The irony of an ABC reporter (whose parent company Disney has profited nearly half a billion dollars on the movie “Pocahontas”) inferring that the name is “offensive” is truly staggering to me.

The issue is that, unlike Eric's grand conclusion, the name "Pocahontas" by itself is not offensive. It's the context in which the president uses it to mock Warren's self-proclaimed heritage. "We regret that the President's use of the name Pocahontas as a slur to insult a political adversary is overshadowing the true purpose of today's White House ceremony," Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said in a statement Monday.

“I think what most people find offensive is Sen. Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career," Sanders told reporters.

But even if Warren is lying about her heritage, which has been an ongoing debate since 2012, that doesn't excuse the use of the culturally insensitive term — particularly since Native Americans have said over and over and over again that it's derogatory. Maybe President Trump and those in his circle should start listening.

Refinery29 reached out to Disney for comment. We will update this story if we hear back.